The present invention relates in general to an electronic dictionary and language interpreter for providing efficient and rapid retrieval of any desired word or words stored therein, and more particularly to a word information storage and retrieval device for such a translator.
Recently, a new type of electronic device called an electronic dictionary and language interpreter has been available on the market. The electronic dictionary and language interpreter differs from conventional type electronic devices in that the former is of a unique structure which provides for efficient and rapid retrieval of word information stored in a memory. An example of an electronic dictionary and language interpreter was disclosed in Levy U.S. Pat. No. 4,158,236, June 12, 1979, "ELECTRONIC DICTONARY AND LANGUAGE INTERPRETER".
With respect to such portable electronic devices, there have been proposed various word storage and retrieval systems with an aim toward minimizing the required word storage capacity for storing a maximum amount of word information and toward shortening retrieval time therefor.
One type of storage system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,367,537 entitled "IMPROVEMENT IN ADDRESS RETRIEVAL IN AN ELECTRONIC DICTIONARY AND LANGUAGE INTERPRETOR". The device disclosed in this patent stores a great number of words in memory in alphabetical order. The disclosure of this patent is incorporated herein by reference.
In another aspect, an electronic translator may function as a word learning apparatus wherein one or more words in the operator's native language are sequentially entered and retrieved from the memory and then shown in a display, and foreign or translated words corresponding to the native words are entered by the operator with the object to compare their equivalency and decide if he knows the meanings of the words. In such a case, it would be preferable that a great number of native words can be retrieved, particularly words of a common level of difficulty.